[91h22a]

Hello All!! Its great to see there are so many proud odyssey owners out there! So I just purchased a 2005 Odyssey EX-L with a blown motor and have some interesting findings as I dismantle this engine.

The previous owner tells of driving the car on the interstate only to suddenly have the engine stop running as she coasted to a halt on the side of the road. She towed it to a local dealer and they told her it needed a new engine so she took it to an independent shop and they agreed with the previous diagnosis. So she listed it in the classifieds where I was happy to stumble upon it as I am looking to replace my V70XC volvo as it has reached 200,000miles and its family seating capacity.

So as I tear this engine down I find two exhaust valve springs floating around in the head. There are two exhaust valves on a cylinder that are without springs/retainers/keepers...but I only see springs:huh: so as you may imagine the piston looks like a gorilla took a hammer and chisel to it fro the beating it took by the two renegade valves (may they rest in pieces). I have only seen this through the spark plug hole with my scope, but its bad.

So my theory is either the keepers came off of the valve(seems unlikely) or the rod/wrist pin/pinston came loose and kept the valves closed as some how the rocker compressed the spring freeing the keepers. I have yet to attempt to rotate the motor to look to see if the piston is moving but this is an entirely new mode of engine failure. I assumed the timing belt was to blame...skipped teeth, broken belt, bad tensioner, etc. but none of these scenarios are true as timing is spot on.

So any J35 gurus out there witnessed this failure before? I thought I would be able to repair this motor but I as I disassemble the engine may be DOA as I imagine metal shavings have found their way into all oil passages. At any rate I expected the worst scenario (sourcing used engine) but was hoping for the best!! Oh well!! I'll be dropping this motor soon!

Anyone have a used J35A7 they want to get rid ofD!

 

[HeavyDuty]

Wow, that's bizarre. I can't imagine the wrist pin coming out and simultaneously having the rod stay inside the piston skirt to shove the piston up in the bore & even if it did, seems unlikely that the pistons presence alone would be enough resistance to keep the valve closed, maybe it would. The timing of those events at the same time has got to be in the X Million:1 arena?

On a quick thought, if it were to have had something introduced into the valve cover (ball bearings) that would have caused coil bind, OR had something ingested through the intake, would it be possible to jam/break the follower on one cycle, then the remaining parts of the follower push down on the retainer, releasing the keeper & dropping the valve?

This forensic teardown sounds like fun to me. As far as a used engine goes, you can't swing a cat without hitting these in the junkyard.

 

[91h22a]

" As far as a used engine goes, you can't swing a cat without hitting these in the junkyard." D I really like that one!!

As I tear this beast down I will be taking some pictures of the damage for all to enjoy!
When I got the car the upper intake had already been removed and all parts down to the Exhaust rocker assembly so I will take some shots of those when I'm at the shop today.

As far as the junkyards go there are not as many of this engine around since it has the VCM...and the ones that are around are pretty pricey. I have found one about 180miles away so I will start there.

 

[91h22a]

So here are some of my findings after removing the cylinder head...

 

[91h22a]

Some detail about the pics....


First is the obvious damage to the affected piston. Second is of the piston next door to the abused, looking normal. Next is a close up of the cylinder head combustion chamber. Next a wider shot to be able to compare what the cylinder looked like before the carnage. Then we have some damage to the rocker arm. Finally a bit of metal has been grooved out on either side of the roller bearing. Something, and I'm not 100% yet what, caused the valve springs to come off and the valves were then able to drop into the cylinder and mangle everything. But the chain of events at this point is difficult to pin down. Next time I'm at the shop I'm going to measure spring height, and look for retainers.

 

[HeavyDuty]

Wow, look at the bronzing on that valvetrain (yuck) and I'm sure you were looking at the retainer groove worn into the follower. Just talking out loud, it sure looks like vandalism & not some machining anomaly. Too bad you couldn't see inside it before someone started the tear down.

ImportAutoSalvage.com in Marion, NC has two or three of those engines available from $2,700-$3,300. I've purchased several swaps from him and they were the cleanest and most complete I've ever seen. You can email them or call them and speak to Randy, or if Larry, Jr. is available you can ask for him. Good guys, not what you'd expect from a salvage yard.

Or, if you need something closer to you, try car-part.com, enter your zip & it will list yards, engines, sorted by mileage, grade, distance from your zip, price, etc. Gotta be careful on car-part, though, best to stick with a LKQ or Greenleaf owned yard.